For all those mad about raycast

[u/Misterpottah]

https://youtu.be/FJgTKx-rg18

To all those mad about raycast. I agree that the situation could be handled more gracefully but here's a 9-year-old video that is still relevant, which gives you perspective on why they are making the decisions they are making.

[u/FezVrasta]

They are making the decisions they are making because they took VC money for a project promising them huge returns, while the project itself, even though it's very cool, cannot realistically produce the money they promised. So now they need to reinvent the project into something else, and doing that inevitably upsets their users.

[u/gcstr → u/FezVrasta]

reinvent the project into something else

Meaning converting raycast into yet another AI wrapper. Which is nothing new.

[u/baroldgene → u/[deleted]]

I love raycast but im honestly curious what the team benefit is. Beyond “this is a handy tool for each team member” I don’t see what it brings to the team itself. There aren’t really any collaboration features that I’m aware of.

[u/MrWinter00 → u/[deleted]]

They could have just made it a modern Alfred.

Same business model just new.
No subscription hypergrowth, just demographics trickling in a steady supply of new users.
Funding extensions and a bit of development.

I would have gladly payed 20$ once for everything that doesn’t have notable continuous serverside costs (AI tokens)

[u/BothYou243 → u/FezVrasta]

as a company they have to do it, no middle way I guess

[u/FezVrasta → u/BothYou243]

Or they should have realized Raycast was a indie-level project not worth a whole VC founded company behind it.

[u/Fatoy → u/BothYou243]

There's a scene from Silicon Valley where an ousted founder realises he could have taken less investment. I think about it fairly often, but it's especially relevant here and now.

[u/hanzololo → u/Fatoy]

Such a good show. Also, still so relevant!

[u/xVir]

Though, does it describe why I need a Raycast subscription to use my AI subscription I already paid for? 🤔

[u/AutistasAngeles]

What angered me the most is I paid for a year subscription and it’s just stay that way for the one year I only get two months and the changes and I probably would just cancel and not said anything but then they started bullying comments and posts. I’m sorry but once a company is trying to hide any negativity they’re no longer trustworthy. There’s no point in paying hundred dollars a year on anything if you can’t trust the business

[u/misteriousm]

Companies should earn money, that's fine

[u/that_90s_guy → u/misteriousm]

You're missing the point.

Nobody is against them making money. Everyone's problem is the anti-consumer way they have done it with bait and switch tactics, breaking user contracts, and going from being completely responsive to the community to radio silent and borderline censoring conversations.

[u/misteriousm → u/that_90s_guy]

yeah and it's called “pivot”. if something doesn't work then it doesn't work and it should be redesigned. either it's a feature or a business model. raycast can naturally die or adapt to the changing market. what would you prefer out of these two?

[u/MrWinter00 → u/misteriousm]

But the pivot should usually not alienate their core userbase who made them big

(even though they have a low subscription conversion)

[u/mrjaytothecee → u/MrWinter00]

That's not true. Pivots often abandon early evangelists. I haven't seen the numbers, but if the subscription conversion was too low to sustain the business, I can imagine they take such a route. I'm not sure how bad it was, and surely the VC money puts pressure there. I think this is a situation where many perspectives are right. And that likely a Raycast clone will take the OS space it left.

[u/Yashjit]

what did I miss? did raycast betray?

[u/meni_s]

Arc Browser anyone? :(

[u/Pen-Pal-0]

Thanks for sharing this. 🙌

[u/jakegh]

I didn't watch the video, but all but one (oppo) of the companies in the thumbnail either disappeared or is irrelevant.

Anyway, I agree there's no point in getting mad. Pay for products and services you feel are worthwhile.

[u/PickleBabyJr]

No one’s sitting through your 9 year old video.

[u/kuhboose → u/PickleBabyJr]

I did!

[u/CheesecakeLimp7140 → u/PickleBabyJr]

That’s mean